


we should just kiss (like real people do)

by archiveofourscone



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora wants to forget their past for one night, F/F, Hurt, I wouldn't put it in full angst, I'm really struggling to tag this, Mild Angst, Post Season Four, and Catra does too, but it is from Catra's point of view, so angst happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22423144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archiveofourscone/pseuds/archiveofourscone
Summary: Catra isn’t really sure how they got here. Adora has been ignoring her since Mara’s old ship touched down outside of Castle Bright Moon, and it’s not like Catra blames her. In fact, Catra has been doing everything in her power to give Adora all of the space she needed. She memorized training schedules and war room meetings in order to avoid Adora at all costs.And yet here they are, with Adora in Catra’s bedroom and nowhere for Catra to run.
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 331





	we should just kiss (like real people do)

**Author's Note:**

> _I will not ask you where you came from. I will not ask, and neither should you. Honey, just put your sweet lips on my lips. We should just kiss like real people do._
> 
> I couldn't sleep one night, and this song was stuck in my head, and then I started thinking about the aftermath of Adora and Bow saving Glimmer (and Catra, because my guess is that Glimmer will insist). They obviously have a lot to work through, and I didn't want to diminish that, but I also just love the idea that Adora wants to throw that all away for one night and go back to the way things used to be, so that's what this is.
> 
> Song title and lyrics from "Like Real People Do" by Hozier.
> 
> Enjoy!

Catra isn’t really sure how they got here. Adora has been ignoring her since Mara’s old ship touched down outside of Castle Bright Moon, and it’s not like Catra blames her. In fact, Catra has been doing everything in her power to give Adora all of the space she needed. She memorized training schedules and war room meetings in order to avoid Adora at all costs.

And yet here they are, with Adora in Catra’s bedroom and nowhere for Catra to run.

Catra wants to be snarky. She wants to purr out her usual, “Hey, Adora,” and make some joke about an invasion of privacy, but even if they were on good terms, even if Adora didn’t rightfully hate Catra down to her very core, Catra just doesn’t know how to be who she was.

Whoever she was, whatever she claimed to be, it dissolved and disintegrated on Horde Prime’s ship.

So, Catra sits and waits.

But Adora doesn’t say anything. She walks over to where Catra is sitting on the bed and sits right beside her, and Catra doesn’t really know what to do. Years of muscle memory are hard to fight, but she refuses to let her tail brush Adora in any way, and she scoots away just a few inches, putting just enough space between them.

Adora sighs. “Can we just forget everything?”

Catra isn’t really sure she understands what Adora’s asking, but she doesn’t get a chance to ask for clarification before Adora continues.

“For just one second, can we forget everything that’s happened between us?” Adora looks at Catra with this determined look that Catra hasn’t seen since they were still together in the Horde. “Can we forget about opening portals and all the fighting and scars and supposed hatred and just be us for one second?”

Adora’s voice is soft as she speaks, but Catra doesn’t miss the small desperation hidden underneath that tugs at her.

She would love nothing more than to forget every horrible thing she’s done in order to be better and stronger for just a few normal moments with Adora, but that doesn’t stop her from being realistic.

“I don’t think it works like that,” Catra says, turning from intense blue eyes.

“Who cares?”

Catra looks up in surprise, because in all the years she’s known Adora, she’s never heard her so dismissive of what’s meant to be right, but this isn’t the Adora she used to know.

They are both entirely different people, whether they like it or not.

“We were never going to become the people we believed we were meant to be,” Adora says softly, looking down at the mirrored floor, “And we were used and manipulated to become something else entirely, believing it was destiny or giving us strength when really, we were just pawns.”

The truth of Adora’s words sink deep, and Catra fights back Double Trouble’s words in her head.

_“You try so hard to play the big, bad villain, but your heart’s never been in it, has it?”_

She thinks of Shadow Weaver’s manipulation and Hordak’s threats if things didn’t go exactly as planned, and she also thinks of that empty pit deep inside her when she should have been her happiest.

“So, who cares?” Adora asks, her voice tinged with anger, “Who cares how it’s supposed to work?”

“Adora, I’m—”

“Stop.” Adora grabs Catra’s wrist, and even that small amount of contact is enough to make Catra freeze. “No apologies. Not right now.”

Catra doesn’t pull her wrist out of Adora’s grip, and Adora doesn’t let go.

“I don’t understand,” Catra confesses, because she doesn’t. She doesn’t understand why, or what made Adora decide to have this conversation.

Adora drops Catra’s wrist and brings her hand up to cup Catra’s cheek, her thumb running over short, coarse fur. “I’m tired,” Adora says, and Catra closes her eyes against the contact, sinking into the softest touch she’s felt since Adora left the Horde, “And being mad at you is so exhausting. I know I’m supposed to be mad at you, and I am, but I’m also done pretending that I didn’t miss everything about you after I left. We’ve got so much time to talk about anger and hurt and all of that. I just,” Adora sighs, “I want to be here with you without everything else.”

Catra relaxes and allows herself to scoot closer to Adora, because for right now, there’s nothing else besides the two of them and the quiet that surrounds them. “Okay,” she whispers, nodding her head slightly and wrapping her tail around Adora’s waist.

They sit like that for a while, and Catra wonders when this bubble they’re in is going to pop, but Adora doesn’t show any sign of leaving, her thumb brushing along Catra’s cheek never stopping and her other hand reaching out to grab Catra’s.

“Can I ask something?” Catra whispers into their comfortable silence.

Adora nods.

“I just don’t understand why.”

Adora smiles, and Catra doesn't know what that smile means. She has no idea what Adora's going to say next.

She doesn’t say anything, though. Adora moves her hand from Catra’s cheek to the back of her neck and pulls Catra in, kissing her like they hadn’t spent so long fighting on opposite sides of a war, like Catra hadn’t tried over and over to destroy the Rebellion and kill She-Ra, like Catra hadn’t almost destroyed reality itself just to get the revenge she thought she was due.

And this isn’t their first kiss. Their last one feels like ages ago, just a few days before Adora stole the skiff and found the sword buried deep in the Whispering Woods. They were just kids back then, no betrayal to tear them apart, no hatred fueled by a need to prove themselves, just two girls who loved each other despite never being taught what love is.

This kiss is different. It’s desperate and messy, Adora pushing Catra down in the plush bed and Catra grasping at Adora’s jacket and pushing off her shoulders. There’s so much more buried underneath, loving and longing mingling together with hurt and regret.

It doesn’t answer Catra’s question. She still has so much that she wants to ask and even more that she wants to apologize for, but Adora doesn’t want talking. She doesn’t want admissions of guilt and discussions of all the pain they caused one another.

All she wants is this, and Catra has wanted this since Adora refused to come back with her in Thaymor. She’s wanted Adora back for so long that she’s willing to keep all of her questions for later and just exist in this moment, her lips against Adora’s and fingers running through golden hair.

Adora bites at Catra’s bottom lip and pulls, and Catra purrs, remembering the first time Adora did that and the confident smirk that Catra’s purrs elicited.

_“Shut up,”_ Catra remembers saying, her younger self shoving a smirking Adora away from her.

_“Did you just purr?”_ Adora had asked, grabbing Catra’s wrists as she went to shove Adora again.

_“Pfft, no,”_ Catra lied, but Adora could see through it.

Adora could always see through Catra’s lies.

Adora doesn’t mention anything about the purring this time, but Catra can feel her smirk into the kiss, and she almost responds like she used to, almost shoves Adora away and tells her to shut up, but she doesn’t want to do anything to stop this moment.

They aren’t the kids they used to be.

They’re not the them they used to be.

Catra isn’t even completely sure who she is without what she used to be, let alone who Adora has become without her.

She gets her moment when Adora breaks the kiss for air, allowing Catra to kiss up her neck to a spot right underneath Adora’s ear, and her soft nibbling gets the reaction she’s hoping for.

Adora gasps, her hands gripping Catra’s hips, and Catra does it again before Adora’s hand in her hair pulls her back and their lips come together again.

Things move quickly after that, and Catra barely has time to think before Adora’s hands push up under her shirt and pull it over her head.

They don’t speak besides small encouragements and curses, gasps and whimpers and moans filling in the spaces in between. They fall asleep holding each other, Adora running a hand over Catra’s stomach absentmindedly and Catra’s low purrs filling the silence.

When Catra wakes up the next morning to an empty bed, she isn’t surprised. She knows the bubble had to pop at some point, that her and Adora had to return from their pretending, but the ghosts of the night before push and pull at her as she sinks back into the bed.

It won't be long until she has to pull herself out of bed, and she's sure at some point today, she's going to see Adora and have to pretend that last night never happened.

For right now, though, Catra lays back in bed, closes her eyes, and remembers everything, because being with Adora, even for just one night, makes her feel more whole and content than winning battles and rising in the ranks ever could.

And for right now, Catra can pretend like last night with Adora is something she'll get to have again.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I start every end note with, "So, there it is." In my defense, I never expect people to read the stuff I write, and at this point, no one has. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the fic.
> 
> If you have any thoughts or opinions, I'd love to hear them. If Tumblr is more your speed, you can find me at hellofromthe-otter-slide.
> 
> Until the next fic!


End file.
